urban terrace

i am not at all an architectural geek. as someone with too much interests, i must admit i'm not as deeply knowledgable as most of my fellow countrymen, who studied architecture, who i encountered when i lived in milan. although i will always carry it as my basic way of thinking and i'm still deeply rooted in it on daily basis (also when i go travel), i've long lost my appetite on contemporary architecture in the sense that i don't really care which starchitects do which new projects or who are the new emerging star in architecture. mostly because i'm no longer interested in flashy new buildings which are more often meaningless and out of context. they're just boring. aside from interior design which i've been doing for more than five years now, i paid attention more to urban issues, the city as container of activities. which was actually the subject i studied on my grad school.

one thing about grad school was that i started to learn again, and in the process of learning by doing, i somehow managed to narrow down and reshaped what actually really interest me, how my approach of design is, what my style is like, and those kind of things. it's like putting in structure who i really am architectural-wise and what my philosophy in this realm is. so when i first saw this building here i was immediately drawn to it. the simplicity, the materials, the color scheme, the grid, the transparency. i like how subtle it is, how it doesn't try to shout too much of itself like most new buildings are. and the more i read about it the more meaningful it is, how it's made for low maintenance and to last long.

and also, it's actually an open public building in the complex of paris saclay, which i believe i visited during this workshop, but i'm not sure since it was my first day and i arrived late and we were going from st.-germain-en-laye to versailles. whether i was in paris saclay or there was the director of paris saclay in the conference i can't remember hehe. and also, while the comue of paris saclay is south to paris, my thesis project was the comue of paris seine which is north west to paris. and it somehow reminds me that period of time. oh the good old time.

ronchamp, bourgogne-franche-comté.

it felt kinda surreal to finally did this pilgrimage, like somewhat 12 years after we first learnt about this le corbusier's chapel of notre dame du haut on our first year in architecture school. it was quite a journey trying to get to the chapel since it's located in the middle of nowhere. from belfort we arrived at the train station and then we had to do quite a walk to reach the chapel. it was winter when we're there and the walk was quite enjoyable although there were moments when we're not quite sure whether we're going to where we supposed to.

it was a feeling of an awe when it finally appeared on our sight. we arrived there early in the morning and it looks extra mysterious and melancholically beautiful seeing it covers with the fog and snow. there were barely no one else there, it felt so silent and peaceful. photos will never do justice on places like this. we really need to feel the space and how it impacts us personally. it reminds me of one moment in my life many many years ago when i would go to the cathedral in my city to just sit there and to try to get the peaceful feeling that i needed. and i'm not even a catholic. now this chapel would give me that peaceful feeling i was longing for, in a way way more than i expected from that cathedral.

belfort, bourgogne-franche-comté.

we stopped by the city of belfort on our way from basel to ronchamp. twice, going and returning. and even on the first visit which was very short and we just wandered around the train station, i remember thinking that france is always a good idea, quoting hepburn's idea about paris. there's just this charm and aesthetic that are pleasing coming from the french cities. and of course, i'm speaking just about the physical aspect, visiting as a traveler for a short period of time.

on the second visit, we managed to go more downtown in the nicely foggy evening. aside from being belfort itself, i think mostly it was the nostalgic feeling i felt being there after having lived in paris for 3 months, that made me enjoy the city even more. the simple mundane things excited me, like i missed being in the french supermarkets, buying the cake i used to have everyday as breakfast, going to boulangerie/patisserie having the best of fresh breads or cakes, passing through flower shops and charming shopfronts, and even the french pharmacies whose reputation we all know. somehow it showed me how memories affect how we perceive a city. i'm not sure if i would think of belfort as charming if i haven't lived some good memories in paris.

paris, îl-de-france. (ii)

i stayed in paris way longer than i did compared to two years ago when i came visit, but it's still hard to talk about the city. it still is full of clichè. it's arrogant. it's overcrowded. it's frustrating. yet it's beautiful. and it's inspiring. at least now i can say that paris is the kind of city that makes you feel guilty staying at home and not going outside to enjoy the beauty of the city and the many things you could do and the many places you could go to. and i am beyond grateful to once be able to call it "home", in both possible definitions.

cergy-pontoise, îl-de-france.

with a decision that was rather impulsive i stayed for almost a month in this town to join an urban planning workshop. there were lots of stories about the workshop where i got to meet lots of different people from all over the world: france, of course, italy, china, lebanon, russia, finland, india, south africa, and many others. but i'm gonna write here mostly about the town itself. cergy-pontoise is one of the five new cities built around paris from scratch on the 70s to depopulate the metropolitan. the evidents of the 70s architecture can be seen on the brutalistic buildings on the grand centre in cergy prefecture, the supposedly main city center.

there were two things that impressed me the most. first, i have to admit that i adore the delicacy of the french aesthetic. the newer part of the towns were built in a similar style with the old existing ancient cities (both cergy and pontoise). and even when they're not that similar, there was this delicacy on the details of the buildings which although simple are pleasing to the eyes. our journey back home from the place of workshop in cergy to our residence in pontoise took an almost 30 minutes walk but the pain was lessen by the pretty architecture. second, it amazed me how the people here are rooted for their city, at least some people i met. they're proud of being born there and want to see improvement on it. maybe because it was built in a good way and it is still a functional city it wasn't hard to be rooted to this place as your hometown. it's just amazing considering that it's a very young city and it was in the suburb of a big city, one of the major big cities in the world that is.

poissy, îl-de-france.

poissy is a small town reachable from paris with commuting train. i was there for an architectural pilgrimage to the villa savoye. on the train/bus station i met a girl from mexico who is obviously also an architecture student. after being confuse of the bus timeline and platform, we decided to just walk to the villa and on the way we encountered a local wedding in the notre dame. didn't stay long there but the when the bride walked in the church, the music was played with a scottish bagpipes and an antique pipe organ, it was so beautiful.

the villa itself looks exactly like what i've always seen on my architectural text book back then. just that now i can feel the space within the context. the interior is very simple, i specially like the light switch which is simple and industrial. although most part look rusty, i actually enjoyed being there. we spent our last minutes there just sitting on the grass chatting and enjoy the evening before it closed.

relativity

time works as a very relative dimension depending on so many aspects. four months could feel like a very long time, like forever, while a year passed like a blink of an eye.
 
i brought my 35mm film camera with me when i was in europe. but during months i was there i only managed to shoot one roll. one! i guess i was too busy absorbing everything by just being there and i didn't want to complicate things so i mostly just took photos with my digital, if not with just the phone.

having said that, my one and only roll turned out to be disappointing. duh. these are some frames i took in paris. can't say that i like it tho, but oh well..

#75008

8th arrondissement, paris.

the night 11k km away

paris, île-de-france.

It's hard to talk about Paris. The word Paris is too synonymous with all the romanticism and cliché comes in one package complete with the Eiffel Tower. Trying to avoid all those attributes I initially hesitated going there, but Paris is Paris, one can't help but having curiosity to at least see by oneself to be able to have a personal judgement.